Bottle cap remover



1936- F. H. RAUH fi fi BOTTLE CAP REMOVER Filed Dec. 17, 1931 Ezy v W4 1 0 7' I INVENTOR, M2: 79-

BY HIS ATTORNEY w Patented Jan. 14, I 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,027,785 I norm car aEMovEa ration of New Jersey Application December 17, 1931, serial No. 581,549

'1 Claim.

My invention relates to a tool adapted to facilitate the operation of a kitchen worker, or housekeeper in removing crimped bottle caps from botties and the like.

Objects of my invention are to provide such a tool with means for engaging within the lower edge of the cap and pulling it away from the bottle neck, by movement in one direction, and for prying the cap up and off the bottle neck by movement in a reversed direction.

Other advantages of my invention are hereinafter pointed out.

In the drawing Fig. l is a plan view of my improved tool; Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same; Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the tool applied to the screw cap of a container; and Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the same, the blades oi the shears being broken off to save space.

In all the figures the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals.

- My improvements are shown embodied with the elements i, 2 of a conventional shears, the shank of the element i being provided with a two or more finger bow it; while the shank of the element 2 is provided with a thumb bow t. By these bows the tool is normally grasped in the right hand by sliding the thumb through the bow t and the second and third or more fingers through the bow t, the first finger usually lying ahead of the bow 3, and the fourth finger usually lying behind it. This is the position in which such shears are designed to be gripped by the user for ordinary cutting operations; and it is, hence, the position in which a person picking up the shears for any use will naturally grasp'them.

A tool of this class is frequently required for removing crimped-on bottle caps. I have, therefore, provided it with means for gripping and prying ofi such a cap, which means is adapted to fall into operative position when the grip of the right hand is changed from the bow and to the blade end of the tool, in the normal and natural movement of shifting such a hand grip. This I accomplish by providing the bow t with a hook element i5 adapted to be inserted beneath the edge of the cap it, so that the cap can be pried oh by causing the outside of the shank 2 to rest against the top of the cap and then pressing the free end of the tool downward. This position of the hook places it where it will not interfere in any way with the normal gripping of the tool in the hand; and when the tool is held or picked up in the normal way by the right hand with the thumb naturally inthe bow '4 and the fingers associated with the bow 3. and it is desired to use the cap remover IS, the holder of the tool naturally places it fiatwise in the palm of the I left hand with the how 3 lying to the right, swings it toward the right hand, the fingers of which pass over the closed blades while the thumb rests 5 under them, thus positioning the tool into the grip of the right hand with the bow 4 downward and the hook it presented in a normal position to be slipped under the edge of the cap it and v forced upward by the downward rocking of the 10 shank over the top of the bottle.

It is sometimes desirable in removing crimped caps from bottles to pry the-lower edge of the cap away from the bead around the bottle neck,

instead of simply dragging the edge of the cap 15 bodily up from around the bead, the attempt to do which may result in clinching the cap edge in belowthe bead. v

The configuration of my cap remover adapts it for both applications. For it may not only be 2 used to pry the cap up, as above described, but, by inserting the point under the edge of the cap with the bow resting against the bottle neck and swinging the upper end of the tool away from the bottle, the bow will act as a smooth, rolling fulcrum against the bottle neck and permit the point to draw the crimped edge to the cap outward from the neck, when, by swinging the tool over the bottle cap with the plain part of the shank resting on top of the cap, the cap can be! readily pulled on" the bottle top by rocking the free end of the tool downward as already described.

The placing of the gripping elements of the tool so that they will normally fall into proper 35 operative relation when the fingers of the hand are employed in the normal and natural way in connection with the tool much facilitates its use, saves waste motion and time and causes the ele-' ments to perform both prying operations without 40 delay or uncertainty of the user in positioning and applying the tool, and therefore makes it a desirable appliance for kitchen use where simplicity, certainty and expedition are of considerable importance. 45

.I desire it ,to be understood thatthe form in which I have illustrated the application of my improvements is a preferred form, which, however, may be modified as by the use of mechanical equivalents, without departing from the spirit of 50 my invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire tov secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:.

A unitary, integral tool for removing crimped 55 bottle-caps, provided with a sharp, angular, engaging point, an extension projecting in the same direction as the point and sufflciently far beyond the bottle-cap to be firmly gripped by the hand, said extension having a single, convex and smoothly curved portion adapted to rock over the top of a bottle-cap to draw the said point upward when the said extension is pushed downward,

and a smoothly and continuously, convexly curvedelement in the tom of an arc oi! an ellipse, having its greater axis parallel to the said extension, extending backward from said engaging point, and adapted to rock smoothly and evenly against a bottle neck to act as a. fulcrum when the said point is engaged under the edge of the bottle cap and the said extension is swung upward and away from the cap.

FREERIC H. RAUH 

